As far as I can tell, it was never released by Anderson or PART-15.ORG.
It was accurate (per the information I had access to) at the time it was written, but events are, of course, evolving rapidly. In this weblog version, I have added some hyperlinks that were not in the original press release that I submitted to Anderson.
PART-15.ORG Volunteers Tasked With Providing Internet Communications To Massive American Red Cross Relief Shelter At Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas
Aurora, Illinois, September 6, 2005
This afternoon, PART-15.ORG Chairman Michael Anderson received a formal request by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) industry volunteers organized by PART-15.ORG to be dispatched to the former Kelly Air Force Base (Kelly AFB) in San Antonio Texas to begin providing Internet services for the massive relief shelter forming there.
With that formal request from the FCC, PART-15.ORG has begun formally activating hundreds of volunteer personnel from the Wireless Internet Service Provider industry.
The former Kelly Air Force Base was decommissioned as an active Air Force base in the mid-1990’s. It is potentially one of the largest of the American Red Cross relief camps for temporary resettlement of victims of Hurricane Katrina. News reports state that approximately 10,000 people have already been placed at Kelly AFB, and that number could grow to as large as 50,000.
As part of its unprecedented mission to set up shelters to accommodate all residents of areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina, American Red Cross has been asked for the first time to implement Internet kiosks and extensive phone banks using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) technology for public use at each relief shelter. American Red Cross’ Information Technology (IT) department determined that WISP capabilities were a good fit for ARC’s shelter requirements, and appear to be particularly impressed with PART-15.ORG’s stated response times and the fact that well-proven, well-supported wireless technology would be used in the planned systems.
This is the first of what is expected to be a large number of similar deployments for WISP industry volunteers, which encompass equipment vendors, service providers, individuals, and other WISP industry organizations such as the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA). American Red Cross has set up 300 relief shelters to date, and many more are expected to be set up in the coming weeks.
Key equipment vendor and services partners PART-15.ORG’s Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort include Redline Communications, Trango Broadband Wireless, smartBridges, Cisco Systems, Times Microwave, and Vonage. Links to each of these vendors can be found on the PART-15.ORG pages listed below.
More information on PART-15.ORG’s Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort is at http://www.part-15.org/emergencyrelief/katrina.html. There you will find links to offer individual and corporate volunteers as well as donating services, equipment, and funds.
ABOUT PART-15.ORG
PART-15.ORG is an international association of Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs). PART-15.ORG is leading a broad coalition of service providers, equipment vendors, and qualified personnel in planning for rapid deployment of high-priority Internet communications in the region left devastated in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
More information on PART-15.ORG is at http://www.part-15.org.
ABOUT WISPA
WISPA - the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association, is dedicated to promoting and improving the WISP industry.
More information about WISPA is at http://www.wispa.org
CONTACTS
Michael Anderson, Chairman, PART-15.ORG, [email protected], 630-518-4742
Claudia Crowley, Project Coordinator, PART-15.ORG Katrina Relief, [email protected]
Rick Harnish, Board Member, WISPA, [email protected]
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(I'm not claiming copyright on this - copy and distribute as you see fit. - sks)